Leaked messages from an aide to UAW President Shawn Fain about the union’s strike strategy against Detroit automakers say the UAW is causing “reputational damage and operational chaos” at GM, Ford and Stellantis.
Why it matters: The messages, in a private group chat on X (formerly Twitter), shed new light on the union’s hardball tactics under a new strategy orchestrated in part by outside labour activists who joined the UAW staff – and Fain’s inner circle – shortly after his election in March.
Screenshots of leaked messages from UAW communications director Jonah Furman, first reported by the Detroit News and also obtained by Axios, sparked outrage and accusations of bad-faith bargaining from the automakers.
The fallout is likely to further undermine trust at the bargaining table, making a deal even more elusive as the union prepares to expand its strike to more plants on Friday.
Details: In the messages, Furman says the rationale behind the union’s so-called “stand up” strategy is to strike at selected plants and keep the companies guessing.
“If we can keep them wounded for months, they won’t know what to do. The beauty is that we’ve got it all out in the open and they’re still helpless to stop it.
“And creating compression points of national attention for them to do the right thing is very different from just waiting a month for the next offer. Also, we’re breaking the pattern and they’re negotiating against each other for the first time in 70 years.
Instead of negotiating with one company to reach a pattern agreement that can be applied to all three Detroit automakers, Furman says the UAW wants to pit the companies against each other to get the best deal for union members.
Of note: Furman is a former reporter for Labor Notes, a non-profit advocacy organisation, who also worked as a national labour organizer for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. He also crowed in the group chat:
“(Two) years ago, I was writing Labor Notes articles about John Deere. Now we’re striking all 3 of the Big 3 and we’re going to win some historic gains. CNN is carrying our communications and picket line live. The White House calls, worried about what we might say. Members yelling ‘I LOVE YOU’ to our folksy Gen X class warfare Christian white guy from Indiana quoting Malcolm X,” an apparent reference to UAW President Fain.
Furman did not respond to Axios’ request for comment. While he wouldn’t confirm to the Detroit News that he wrote the messages, he called them “private messages” that “you shouldn’t have”.
At 1:57 p.m. Thursday, according to a screenshot obtained by the Detroit News, he wrote: “Someone leaked my remarks in here to the business press. I’m out.”
What they’re saying: GM said in a statement that it’s “now clear that the UAW leadership always intended to cause months of disruption, regardless of the harm to its members and their communities”.
The statement added that the leaked information “calls into question who is actually in charge of UAW strategy and shows a callous disregard for the seriousness of what is at stake. The UAW leadership needs to put the interests of its members and the country ahead of its own ideological and personal agendas.
Ford chief communications officer Mark Truby said in a statement: “It is disappointing, to say the least, given what is at stake for our employees, the company and this region.”
“For our part, we will continue to work day and night and negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows Ford to invest in a vibrant and growing future.”
A Stellantis spokesman said: “These reported comments by the UAW communications director are incredibly troubling and strongly suggest that the UAW’s approach to these talks is not in the best interests of the workforce. We are disappointed that it appears our employees are being used as pawns in an agenda that is not designed to meet their needs”.
Where he stands: Fain, who ran as a reformer after a corruption scandal that sent two of his predecessors to jail, has adopted far more aggressive tactics in the current round of bargaining than the union has in the past.
His unprecedented simultaneous strike at all three automakers currently involves some 13,000 UAW workers – about 10% of the union’s 146,000 workers at GM, Ford and Stellantis – at plants that build small pickup trucks and SUVs in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio.
Fain will announce new walkouts on Friday morning.
